UCLA CROWNED THE MOST VEGAN-FRIENDLY COLLEGE IN AMERICA

Trend-Setting School Takes Top Honors for Giving Students the Best Food for Thought 

For Immediate Release:
November 19, 2010

Contact:
Ryan Huling 757-622-7382

Los Angeles — The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), has been named the most Vegan-Friendly College in the U.S. in the large-school category by peta2, the world's largest youth animal rights organization. UCLA defeated 31 other schools from across the country in a March Madness–style bracketed competition on peta2.com, where site visitors cast their votes to help peta2 decide the winners. UCLA will receive framed certificates, which it can proudly display in every dining hall on campus. 

"UCLA stands as a role model for colleges across the country when it comes to educating students about how their food choices affect not only their own health but also the world around them," says peta2 Director Dan Shannon. "More and more young people are learning that the best thing that they can do for animals, the planet, and themselves is to go vegan." 

UCLA is often viewed as the collegiate epicenter of the animal rights debate, so it should come as no surprise that the university is also the national leader when it comes to vegan dining. The school's dining halls offer dozens of vegan entrées, including vegan lasagne, veggie chicken fingers, barbecue "beef" with roasted vegetables, and vegan chili cheese dogs. Students can end their meals on a sweet note with a vegan cappuccino cookie or the more wholesome Morning Glory Muffin. Food-service representatives regularly meet and dine with members of the student organization Bruins for Animals to solicit feedback on how the school can improve dining options.  

The large-school runner-up was New York University. Chicago's Northwestern University took top honors among smaller schools, and McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, came out on top among Canadian universities. 

The consumption of meat, eggs, and dairy products has been linked to obesity, heart disease, cancer, and other health problems. Also, raising animals for food is a leading cause of water pollution, land degradation, and greenhouse-gas emissions. And, of course, the meat industry causes animal suffering on a massive scale. 

For more information, please visit peta2com/VeganColleges.